Page 47 of My Forever Soldier

Her face softened and she started to smile again. “Deal.”

Olivia foundherself struggling to inhale enough oxygen when Luke went to find Charlie. There didn’t seem to be enough of it in the room for her.

All she could think about was what it would be like to spend an entire day with Luke. Sit in a car beside him with no one else, no Charlie, to focus on. Just the two of them.

It was stupid to be nervous, but the thought of that made her worry. Made her stomach flip-flop, twisting in circles at the same time.

Adate day. That’s what it sounded like. But it seemed more like a first date, like she’d been waiting for him to ask her out her entire lifetime, or at least that’s how the pressure building in her chest was making her feel.

Luke was the father of her child. She’d never intended on giving him a second chance, not after all this time, and now she was turning herself inside out at spendingonedaywith him? She wasn’t unhappy about how things were changing between them, but it didn’t mean it was easy.

She heard Charlie squeal with delight and wondered what he and Luke were doing. It scared her, having Luke here. It had been one thing having him in the house when she’d thought it was temporary, but ever since that night in the hospital, things had been different. There was a slow fire burning beneath the surface, simmering between them. A fire that she wanted to keep stoking, but didn’t want to let burn too hard. Or be extinguished.

She was so confused.

Luke had earned this opportunity. When he’d asked her that night, just after he’d returned, she’d said yes to him out of duty. Wanting to provide a family for Charlie, yet wary of the pitfalls of doing so. She’d still been attracted to Luke, very much so, but she’d had no true intention of letting him back into her heart. She’d thought that part of her was shut away.

But now? Now she was on the brink of opening herself up to him, of telling him she’d shred the damn divorce papers. It terrified her, but at the same time was exciting. And that’s why a day away together was adding to her worry, because in that length of time she’d probably know whether they were ever going to give their marriage a true second chance.

It was time to let go of the past and see if they had a future.

15

AWHISPER OF almost-cool wind touched Olivia’s cheeks and made her smile. Senses she’d once ignored, feelings she’d pushed back while Luke had been away, were all starting to return to her.

And the biggest sensory experience right now?Luke. One month ago, she would have said her wounds were too deep to ever heal, that the skin had only just sealed over what still hurt like a raw sore. But now fresh skin had grown, and she’d seen the man she’d once loved in a new light. As a possible dad to their son, rather than a long-distance no one.

As a rogue wave splashed over her toes, Ollie took a silent gulp of air and glanced at Luke. He smiled back, the kind of toe-tingling smile a teenage crush might give a girl, and it had the exact effect on Olivia that she was terrified of. Luke walked closer and reached for her hand. A simple touch that conveyed nothing and everything all at once, and made her toes curl deeper into the sand.

It was then that she knew she was lost to him. That despite all her protests, despite that shallow voice of doubt still urging her to resist, she was going to give him a second chance. A real, no-holds-barred second chance.

“You okay?” Luke asked her.

Olivia nodded. She didn’t trust her voice not to wobble if she tried to answer. Luke squeezed her hand and they started to walk, silent, yet more connected than they’d been in years.

“Do you remember this spot?”

She kept hold of his palm as Luke stopped and searched her eyes for her answer. Ollie looked around, slowly at first, then her gaze raced about them. Oh, yes, she re- membered this place.

“Mmm-hmm.” She searched for words and found none.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember...” His voice trailed off and he dropped her hand.

Olivia forced her head up, trying not to blush at the dream she’d had about this exact spot when Luke had first arrived back.This had been their beach, their place.Where, like teenagers, they’d made love out in the open, in the dark, with only the roar of waves as their witness. It had been so unlike her, so out of her comfort zone, but it had been incredible.

“The night I tell pregnant with Charlie,” she told him.

Luke looked into her eyes and Olivia forced herself to meet his steady gaze, not to shy away from his attention.Because this was Luke. Not the Luke who had deserted her, but the Luke she’d fallen in love with. The man she’d so desperately hoped would come back to her when things had started to become strained between them. When she thought she’d lost him forever.

“Do you regret it?” he asked, his voice low.

Did she regret Charlie? Absolutely not. Hermarriage? She honestly believed that if given a choice, she’d rather say she’d loved and lost than never loved at all.

“No, Luke. I don’t regret any of it.” She took a deep breath. “Except for the years we spent apart, and the arguments we had before you left.”

Luke brought his face nearer, eyes trained on hers. She wanted so badly to flee, but more than that she wanted to feel his lips, to be lost in his kisses.

He paused, hovered, his mouth so close to hers. Olivia parted her lips, her breathing shallow, eyes almost shut.

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